The Wizard of Oz movie- Page 4

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 4:09pm

Having spent most of my life in Kansas being raised by parents who didn't particularly care for The Wizard of Oz, I always felt more distaste for the film than anything else. Sure I had seen it and sung "Over the Rainbow" once or twice--what little girl hasn't? But I was sick and tired of going places or telling people where I was from and having it turn into an Oz joke. Not to mention the fact that you CANNOT escape Oz memorobillia. It is just impossible.

However, a few years ago I dated a guy with a passion for all things Oz. His lack of cynicism toward the film caused me to re-evaluate my prior stance. Having finally watched "The Wizard of Oz" with a person who truly appreciated it turned it into a whole different film. It will never be on my list of favorites, but it is certainly a film that I can enjoy and will show to my children (when/if I have them).

So thanks Brian--if nothing else, you taught me how to give up 19 years of prejudice toward "The Wizard of Oz."

PS--This is purely the film, mind you. I absolutely ADORED the Frank L. Baum book when I was a little girl!

[kec]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 4:31pm

" I absolutely ADORED the Frank L. Baum book when I was a little girl! "

You should read the rest of them! Baum wrote 14 in all.

BTW -- did anyone here ever see the film about L. Frank Baum that starred John Ritter?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 4:45pm

Yes! "Dreamer of Oz" was a very charming, nicely produced and well acted dramatic telling of the life of L. Frank Baum. It starred John Ritter and Annette O'Toole (as Maude Gage Baum). And a young lad who interviewed Mrs. Baum at the film's 1939 premier... none other than John Cameron Mitchell.


I really wish they would release this on DVD! Sadly, only the score is currently available on CD:

Updated On: 10/23/06 at 04:45 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 4:50pm

I did! It was called THE DREAMER OF OZ: THE L. FRANK BAUM STORY. The marvelous Annette O'Toole also stars as his long-suffering wife.





ETA: Damn! best12bars beat me to it! I didn't know the movie originally aired in 1990. I watched it years later.

Updated On: 10/23/06 at 04:50 PM

[kec]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 5:17pm

I was living in Romania at the time, and someone sent me that film on tape. I loved it, and was very moved by the story. Sadly, I no longer have the tape, I probably sent it back.

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 5:28pm

All the memories this thread is bringing back!

I remember seeing Return To Oz when it premiered in Radio City Music Hall - they had a special Disney show and then a movie - either Return to Oz or the Black Cauldron. My family chose Return to Oz - sat in the first mezzanine house left -- and I loved the movie then. I thought it was scary as hell (the Wheelies, the head room...) but I remembered really liking it. I've since bought it on DVD and rewatched it - it's not as good as I remembered it, but parts of it still are impressive (Jack especially -- I'm still not sure how they did that so convincingly for the time...).

I've actually been checking Netflix regularly for that John Ritter movie - I remember watching it when it was on and just loving it. It would be so great to be able to see that again!

The Jewel concert is decent, but not nearly as good as the original soundtrack.

The Muppet version - well, I won't even go there...

Oh and I remember watching the movie every year on its one broadcast - in March. Before we had a VCR, when I was five, my dad actually set up his camera and took still photos of the tv so I'd have something to remember it by because I'd loved the movie so much the first time I saw it the year before. I still have those pictures somewhere I think...

Updated On: 10/23/06 at 05:28 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 5:40pm

"Before we had a VCR, when I was five, my dad actually set up his camera and took still photos of the tv so I'd have something to remember it by because I'd loved the movie so much the first time I saw it the year before. I still have those pictures somewhere I think..."

jasonf ---

That's so cool.

I remember putting my clunky cassette recorder right up next to the (single mono) TV speaker and recording all the audio from the film. Except that I forgot to turn our cuckoo clock off in the kitchen at first, so there a big "bird noise" right as the tornado is sweeping through Kansas. And of course there are a few seconds missing each time I had to change sides or put a new tape in. For years I held onto it, especially when they started editing the film for television (to add in MORE commercials). It was the only (almost) complete recording of it that I had.

Lots of memories indeed...

[balletandbroadway]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 7:44pm

I love setting this movie to Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" CD... it's really cool how it's all in sync

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 8:11pm

So, RETURN TO OZ is available on DVD? Since "Ozma of Oz" is my favorite of the 14 Oz books, I have to get that one.

Posted: 10/23/06 at 8:13pm

my roommates as obsessed with this movie as i am with the wedding singer! its an interesting combo in our room! lol

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 8:34pm

I have it on DVD - I have no idea how readily available it is though.

The Dark Side thing is great -- the best part of that is Great Gig in the Sky - it syncs up EXACTLY with the tornado sequence (the cash registers in Money start as Dorothy opens the door to Oz) -- but even better, if you play Dark Side LOUD, in Great Gig, just as the witch passes, you can hear someone whisper "If you can hear this, you're dying" -- it freaks me out every time - gives me chills even just typing it!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/23/06 at 8:42pm

And they (band members) say it's just coincidence.

[kyle.]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 12:01am

I'm very sorry but there is no way in hell it is a coincidence. I actually just watched it yesterday with a friend while I was .... you know. If you haven't done it like that - do it. A-MA-ZING.

As a fellow OZ geek since the age of 5, I was wondering if anyone has heard these two recordings and what they think about them.





I've heard one song from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Gray, and what from I remember it was quite good. An old friend of mine is friends with the composer and he had her do some demos when he was still writing it. She sent me Gray and I remember enjoying it. That was probably close to 8 years ago though.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 12:43am

Oh, wow.... this thread has really taken off. And it's certainly taken me back!

I became uber-infatuated with The Wizard of Oz at 2 I believe, and had clothes, toys - even Barbie-sized dolls from the late-80s or early-90s. When I was in Florida at age 7, I spent almost all of my saved-up spending money on the Wizard of Oz script at MGM. In the late 90s I got the WB Wizard of Oz beanie baby-type toys ... they're pretty cool.

So what's everyone's oldest Oz collectible? Everyone's favorite? Most strange?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 1:17am

Wow Best12, you went up a notch for your Oz love. I can't remember at time before I knew "Wizard of Oz" it's that large a part of my life and who I am. My oldest collectible is probably a copy of the book, I have an ungodly amount, but my favorite is the 1988 Multi-Toys Oz Doll set, which have been well loved and played with...Dorothy has managed to loose both socks...
However, my love for Oz is pretty much all across the board. I really enjoyed the 1996 Concert, the 1996 Oz on Ice (even if Oksana Baul was hideous as Dorothy), and 99% of the parodies.
Does anyone else remember the Rankin/Bass "Return to Oz" or the Japanese version with Aileen Quinn and Lorne Greene, or the HBO Series that was actually not even the full Japanese import? (Which is available on DVD in France and I would kill for)

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 5:48am

My oldest Oz collectible would be a 2nd edition of the original book, published in 1902 (I believe). It was my grandfather's copy when he was a child.

My oldest collectibles from the 1939 film would be the original (first printing) sheet music for five of the songs, including "Over the Rainbow." They were my mother's when SHE was a child. For those of you who have the old sheet music, the way you can tell it was a first printing is if it still has "The Jitterbug" shown in the list of songs on the front. They removed it for subsequent printings.

My most cherished collectibles are the three autographed photos of Margaret Hamilton from the film that she sent me over the years. And her postcards and letters. I also have an autographed photo of about ten of the Munchkins that I got here in L.A. when they all gathered together at the old Culver City Hotel (where they stayed while filming the movie).

Also... the photos I have of me (as a kid) riding a black pony that pulled Dorothy around in her carriage in Munchkinland. (The same pony that threw Bonnie Blue Butler in "Gone With the Wind.") And the photos I have of me (taken about 5 years ago) sitting next to a pair of the ruby slippers used in the film.

And for those of you interestd in "The Wizard of Oz" when it ran as a hit Broadway musical back in 1903, there is an incredible double CD assembled and restored with much love. It features songs and performances from original cast members... and it's fascinating!

[Urban]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 7:30am

Kyle - the Live Oz cast recording is okay, but I DETEST Stikki Webster with a passion and having her as Dorothy knocks the Recording down a few pegs.

I am going to have to confess, while I loved the film as a kid (who didn't?), it really hasn't aged well (for me personally) as an adult. I am still a big Ozphile, but I dare not watch it these days in case it really looses the lat of its shine as a treasured childhood memory (like 60s Batman or ALF - both are now rather unwatchable even though I loved loved loved them as a kid).

Does anybody remember that cartoon series they had? I think it was a joint Canadian/Japanese production and it originally came out in the 80s. It produced four of the books into the series - I THINK they where "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", "Return to Oz", "Ozma of Oz" & "The Emerald City of Oz".

I know there is actually a (very highly) edited version of that series out on DVD (basically turning the four series into four movies - urgh). I loved the series as a kid and that really was my big leap into Ozfandom, not the movie.

[MimiLovesRoger]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 9:36am

funny story--
so, i'm an assistand dance teacher at my mom's dance studio, and we were talking about what we were going to be for halloween this year (these are like 4 year old girls btw). and one of the girls said dorothy. and my mom was like 'oh! peyton (me) loves the wizard of oz! she likes th the wicked witch (out of my love for elphaba and wicked). and the girl looks at my in total fear. it was hilarious. lol.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 10:28am

Urban-
That was the set on HBO I was talking about. They DID release the full shows on DVD in France (In French, no subtitles), but I think it's gone out of print.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 10:50am

My first memory of Oz is my father reading me "Ozma of Oz" from my mother's first edition copy. She was born in 1904 and received a new Oz book each Christmas for many years. It was those original 14 Oz books that I read as a kid. My first exposure to the movie was in 1949, I believe, when there was a re-release of the movie in my local theatre. The two "collectibles" that I own is a first edition of "The Wizard of Oz" which is falling apart, alas,(dated 1899 but actually published in 1900--that is how I know it is a first edition --that was its quirk) and an original movie house poster of the film. I am going now to my local video store to see if they have a copy of "Journey to Oz". I can't wait to see a dramatization of the Queen of the Land of Ev who changed her head daily with a subsequent change in her mood for the day. Unfortunately, she was in a bad mood when she first encountered Dorothy and Tik-Tok. Heh,heh,heh.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/24/06 at 11:07am

Did anyone know that "Journey Back to Oz" with Liza, Memrman, Paul Lynde, and Mickey Rooney is on DVD now?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/25/06 at 8:57am

At the Flea Market, they had a table next to the HAIRSPRAY table.. can't remember what company/organization's it was, but it was manned (no pun intended) by drag queens.... they had several RARE Oz audio recordings available... two different versions of the Journey Back to Oz Cartoon (both with Minelli. One with Mickey Rooney as the Scarecrow, one with another Scarecrow who's name escapes me.......
and the gem that *I* swiped up....
The full soundtrack for The Wizard of Oz on Ice.. no, not the cvheesey, inferior Television version that was butched down to an hour and had Shanice doing Over the Rainbow, but the recording from the ACTUAL full length production with a fully reorchestrated score, Bobby McFerrin providing all of the voices except for Dorothy, and Laurnea Wilkerson (who covered Stephanie Mills in The Wiz) taking on the role of Dorothy!!
LOVES it! Some of the new arrangements/orchestrations were a bit odd, and they added a 'kick' to some of the music with newer musical technologies, but I love some of the new little things that they did.... not to mention the extended overature. I only wish they had included the Over the Rainbow reprise and Ding! Dong! Emerald City!

I would like to get my hands on the Australian Webster recording. I own the Toronto CLO "Wonderful Wizard of Oz". It has some gems in the score, but it is very much an easy recording to dislike since it is VERY jarring on the first few listens. The song moments and songs are COMPLETELY stylisticaly different from what you expect if you grew up on MGM's Oz, making it hard to see it becoming a truly popular version, but I would love to see a production of the show... there are a few songs I listen to regularly on it... Dream for Me (Scarecrow, Tin Woodman & Lion), Pull Together (Mouse Queen & Mice), This Land of Oz (Glinda & Company)...
here is a link to the show's page on the Toronto CLO site...
http://www.civiclightoperacompany.com/wizard_of_oz.html
'Oz' was the first show I ever directed.. not to mention WROTE! Yes, I was/am very gay.. I won't elaborate, because theyw ill REALLY be a nerd, but needless to say, in the years since, I have longed to see a truly great stage adaption of the film and have seen many many versions and have many many ideas as to what I would do.
There was an Oz production in Australia in the '90s.. I only saw one photo from it (from If I Only had A Heart), and it was SOO Visually accurate to the film.. I want a program/more pictures from that!!!

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/25/06 at 7:25pm

Bwayguy-
You can easily skip the Webster recording. I have it, wasn't really worth what I paid for it. Really, of the non-film recordings of the film songs, the OLC w/Gillian Bevan and the 1998/1999 Tour with Eartha Kitt stand as my favorites.
I have listened to the Toronto about 4 times, and still don't like it. I don't like the style, and I feel it pacing is severly off. One of the more delightful musical versions I've seen is Oz! by Tim Kelly...it's rather catchy, and a very good easy adaptation for elementrary/middle schools.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 12:18am

I just like to collect recordings of shows i have done.. that is why i want webster. i am indifferent about her. i really like the grove/kitt recording, though i detested the show having been cut to 90 minutes.....

[CenterStage3]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 12:52am

My daughter (12) is currently in rehearsals and will be playing Dorothy in a local production. She recently finished a year and a half run in midtown Manhattan, and grew tremendously as a performer, because she was surrounded with a cast of very talented actors. She is very excited to be playing Dorothy. Also, they will be performing the jitterbug scene.